CBS to Adapt Resonant TV Format for All Access

CBS has greenlit the US adaptation of Resonant TV's format, Había una vez, already adapted in Spain and Mexico. It will be titled Tell Me a Story and be produced by Kapital Entertainment.

Streaming platform CBS All Access has greenlit a new original series this week. Titled Tell Me a Story, it's the US adaptation of the format Había una vez, from Latin American production company, Resonant TV.

The US version will be created by Kevin Williamson, creator of Dawson's Creek and horror saga Scream. Production, meanwhile, will be done by Kapital Entertainment, while Williamson, Aaron Kaplan and Dana Honor will be executive producers.

Both its original version and the new adaptation take kids' stories we all know and love, such as The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood or Hansel and Gretel, but as thriller and horror tales.

The series was originally created by Marcos Osorio Vidal, with Gustavo Malajovich and Hernán Goldfrid. Gonzalo Cilley and Andrés Tovar from Resonant TV produced it.

"Había una vez is a format created by Resonant in Argentina, that started out as a project in which we shot trailers and developed the material. The first version was made in Spain and then another one was made in Mexico. And this is the third version," Gonzalo Cilley said to ttvnews.

"This adaptation makes us especially happy because of the names involved, particularly Kevin Williamson, a top-tier writer in the US, who made CBS' participation possible. Several companies wanted this title and ultimately it was CBS who landed it, since it guaranteed production for the full series," he added.

In Spain, the adaptation was titled Cuéntame un cuento and aired in 2014 on Antena 3. It had five episodes, starring renowned actors such as Blanca Suárez, Michelle Jenner and Aitor Luna, among others.

In Mexico, the series was called Érase una vez and aired on streaming platform, Blim.

Tell Me a Story joins an increasingly long list of original productions from CBS All Access, such as Star Trek: Discovery, The Good Fight, No Activity, $1, Strange Angel and Twilight Zone.

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